Opening Up During COVID-19: Fstoppers Interviews Ken Yu

Ken Yu is a photo assistant and digital technician who has been on countless sets, so when states slowly started to reopen for business amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, he became concerned about how the photographers could move forward safely. When he reached out to me to have a discussion about reopening practices, I said yes, because the waters are murky and it's a discussion worth having.

Want to Be a Successful Photographer? Learn to Be Flexible

Photography, like many creative careers, rarely has a path to success that is straight and without unexpected twists. If you want to find success in the field, it is crucial that you stay flexible to the possibility of the shape of your career evolving or even changing shape drastically.

One of the Best Ways to Grow as a Creative

One of the best ways I have found to improve as a creative has nothing to do with getting the newest camera, educational course, or piece of gear, but it's about increasing your self-awareness and constantly improving your character traits.

10 Tips for Better Photos With Horses

Horses make for fantastic additions to a photo, whether you are taking pictures of a beloved companion or using them for a fashion shoot. However, I often see photographers treat horses like an afterthought in a photo, when they could make them look so much better with a little knowledge and practice. Here are 10 tips to improve your work with horses.

Use Retro Lenses on Modern Cameras for Filmic Magic

In an age of ultra sharpness and perfect optical balance, our technically brilliant images can often lack charm. So in this tutorial, I'll show you how to use retro lenses on your modern digital camera for photographs that have a lot of character and harken back to the days of film.

Fstoppers Reviews the Tamron 20mm f/2.8 Lens for Sony

More and more lens companies are starting to realize that mirrorless cameras are here to stay. So, I was excited to try out one of the first prime lenses from Tamron that were specifically designed for Sony.

How to Come up With New Ideas

Have you ever felt stuck with no creative idea inspiring you to create something? Even if it's in your bedroom or living room or while browsing the net, this video shows you how to save ideas and use them as reference for new concepts and to even show clients.

Dear Sony: Here Are a Bunch of Things We'd Like You to Do Please

When Sony first released its full-frame mirrorless cameras, there were plenty of problems and meaningful issues that needed to be addressed. In my view, Sony has been doing a brilliant job in fixing these problems, however, it seems there are still lots of things that could be better.

Has Wedio Created the Airbnb for Camera Gear?

Whether it’s Uber, Turo, or Airbnb, the sharing economy has been behind some of the biggest changes in how people use their car or home. Wedio has launched a new twist on photo and video gear rentals that might just change how everyone buys and owns their next camera.

How Scratch-Proof Is a Camera Sensor?

Most photographer's anxiety levels shoot through the roof if they leave their camera sensor exposed for more than a few milliseconds. Question is, how much abuse can our sensors really take? Don't try this experiment at home, kids.

Are You Using These Three Key Aspects of Visual Storytelling?

Since the beginning of time, humans have told stories for education, historical record, and entertainment. The timeless adage "a picture is worth a thousand words" is one we have all heard, and probably repeated, but I want to focus on the things that words can't describe.

Improve Your Photos by Doing More Work Beforehand

How often do you just go out and shoot, whether it is a hike in the woods with your camera or a portrait session? While there is something to be said for being in the moment and letting things happen organically, let us talk about why pre-planning your shoots can improve your images.

Remote FaceTime Portraits With Boston Red Sox Players

We've seen plenty of portraits, fashion, and family shots done remotely throughout quarantine, but what about taking it up a notch? Check out these FaceTime portraits taken of Boston Red Sox baseball players!

Are You Making Full Use of the View Modes in Lightroom?

With Lightroom's new update being the main recent talking point among Adobe photography users, it still might be worth checking out some of the fundamentals of the powerful application. Here's a video detailing the four main view modes besides the Grid view in the Library module — with a bonus explanation of metadata filters at the end.

We Need More Affordable, Light f/1.8 Lenses

I get it. f/1.4, f/1.2, and even f/0.95 are way more exciting and drool-worthy than f/1.8, but in an era of forever-bloating lens designs, perhaps f/1.8 is exactly what we need more of. Here are some of the reasons why I would love to see more f/1.8 lenses from various manufacturers.

Three Ways to Increase the Financial Return on Your Time

It can grind by slowly, then it flies, but whatever which way you cut it, the whiling of time is business time, your time. Here are the three most important reasons why it matters and how you can use this to increase your financial return.

How to Shoot Sunrises and Sunsets

It’s summer now, and that means we have good temperatures and conditions to go out and shoot. Sunrise and sunset are especially great moments to get good photography conditions, not only because you can catch incredible colors but also because the light can be too harsh during the day.

5 Stay at Home Mobile Phone Photography Ideas You Can Try Today

Here in the United States, the coronavirus is still (ostensibly) keeping people at home, and that means lost gigs and fewer chances to shoot outside. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get creative at home. If you want to challenge yourself using only your phone (or if that’s all you have), here are a few tips to create some interesting images with minimal tools.

5 Things to Do if You Want to Be a Happier Photographer

Being a photographer can be a bit of a slog in between the tedium of day-to-day work and dealing with the various issues that often arise. Here are four things you should try doing to become a happier and more satisfied photographer.

How to Edit Food Photographs

There are loads of tutorials out there for editing portrait photography, so I thought I would put together a reasonably comprehensive yet short guide to editing food photographs.

5 Simple Tips to Instantly Improve Your Landscape Photography

I live and breathe landscape photography and there are so many great tips you can test and try out yourself. Here are five tips I benefit a lot from in my work that you can implement to improve your landscape photography right now.

Review: Haida M10 Drop-in One Million X Edition ND Filter

Have you ever tried to look at the sun? Its fierce light can damage your eyes and make you blind. Haida has introduced the One Million X Edition Neutral Density Filter, which should allow you to photograph the sun in a safe way. I got a chance to use this amazing filter.

Photojournalist Blinded in One Eye While Reporting on Protests Is Suing the City of Minneapolis, Using Pictures She Took of Police as Evidence

During the protests in Minneapolis last month, photojournalist Linda Tirado was left blind in one eye after being hit by a foam bullet used by police. After initially making light of the situation, she has now decided to pursue legal action against the City of Minneapolis, and is citing the last images she took of police before she was shot at as evidence.

5 Affordable Hidden Gems in the Canon Lens Lineup

Canon makes a wide variety of fantastic lenses, but they are rarely cheap, and you can quickly find yourself spending a lot of money trying to build out your lens library. Luckily, after decades of releasing lenses, there are a few hidden gems if you know where to look. Here are five lenses you should check out.

Just Start Charging for Your Photography: My $25 Rule

Why do you feel it's OK to work without pay? Other occupations charge, and they charge handsomely for their expertise, but photographers are seemingly shy when it comes to money. Knowing this crowd, I'll need an obligatory qualifier: Not all photographers are shy, but a lot of them are.

Do the New Photoshop and Lightroom Updates Affect You?

New features added to Photoshop and Lightroom today might change how you edit your photos, but it entirely depends on what kind of images you make and what your current workflow is like. This is my review of the new features and whether you'll want to dive in or avoid them.

Is It Time We Dropped Master/Slave Terminology?

In recent weeks, racial inequality has been brought to the forefront of awareness for many around the world. In light of the cultural shift that has the world talking about the Black Lives Matter movement, is it time for the photography community to change some terminology?